Viewpoints on Accreditation from Health Education Professionals and Administrators of Academic Professional Preparation Programs

Abstract

The health education profession has made significant strides in promoting quality assurance for credentialing of health educators through a combination of individual certification and program approval and accreditation mechanisms. Although the profession has widely embraced individual certification, program accreditation has not been uniformly accepted nor implemented. The National Task Force on Accreditation in Health Education was charged to develop a detailed plan for a coordinated accreditation system for undergraduate and graduate programs in health education. One of the goals of the task force was to gather professionwide input into any proposed new system. We conducted two Web-based surveys to assess viewpoints on accreditation and program approval from health education professionals (n=506) and from faculty and administrators at academic programs in health education (n=105). Results from the surveys show that the majority of professionals in the field and at academic programs surveyed supported and would participate in a national, coordinated, professionwide accreditation system in health education. Furthermore, the majority of respondents suggested that the accreditation system should be comprehensive, flexible, build on the strengths of existing accreditation systems, and be linked to individual certification. Findings from these surveys, along with other input from the field, will help inform the final recommendations of the task force.

An Assessment of Certified Health Education Specialists’ Attitudes on Direct Third-Party Reimbursement for Health Education Services

“…As health educators in practice, most participants worked in either community or public health or a college or university (Bernhardt et al, 2003;Birch & Pearson, 1995;Hayden, 1990;Mail, 1993;Jenkins & Olsen, 1994;Prelip, 2001). Compared to health educators in other studies (Clark et al, 1998;Matthews et al, 2004), participants in this study had a higher average income, with nearly one third earning more than $45,000 annually.…”

Why a Coordinated Accreditation System Benefits School Health Education Programs: A Response to Clark's Commentary

“…(As discussed in this article, NCATE and TEAC are currently in discussion about a unified accrediting system in educator preparation.) The Accreditation Task Force decided against creating any new singular accreditation body for health education as research showed that CEPH and NCATE were already widely embraced by administrators, faculty, and practitioners 14 . Moreover, the first of the Task Force recommendations stated that accreditation should replace existing approval mechanisms in an orderly fashion; thus when the 2004 recommendations are fully implemented, SABPAC will be eliminated.…”

What Should Gerontology Learn From Health Education Accreditation?

“…Interestingly, the Task Force conducted two Web-based surveys to assess viewpoints on accreditation and program approval for graduate and undergraduate programs in health education (Bernhardt et al, 2003). Not only were these surveys a good way to collect information, but they also served as a focal point for disseminating the overall value of accreditation at both the individual and programmatic level.…”